Heddles for loom harness



United States Patent Curt Wagner 161 Heppstrasse, 7411 Reutlingen- Betzingen, Gern iany Nov. 12, 1968 Dec. 22, 1970 lnventor Appl. No. Filed Patented HEDDLES FOR LOOM HARNESS 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

US. C Int. C

FleldofSearch .I. l39/93,96; 1 28/44, 46

Primary Examiner-Henry S. Jaudon Attorney-Karl F. Ross ABSTRACT: Heddles for a loom harness, conventionally provided with alternately upwardly and downwardly directed keyholes above a centrally positioned warp eye, are formed with wedge-shaped camming edges near their lower ends to facilitate their separation by a spreading tool upon transfer to a warp-drawing machine.

HEDDLES FOR LOOM HARNESS My present invention relates to heddles for a loom harness having upper and lower rails along which the corresponding heddle extremities may slide laterally,e.g. as shown in US. Pat No. 2,047,51 l to J. J. Kaufmann.

For the insertion of warp threads into the centrally positioned warp eyes of these heddles, it has already been proposed (e.g. as disclosed in the aforementioned US. patent) to provide each heddle with a so-called keyhole adjacent its warp eye, the keyholes of successive heddles facing alternately upwardly and downwardly so as to be separable from one another by the introduction of a rotatable selector rod or key into these keyholes, the key having a helicoidal ridge fitting the vertical slots of the keyholes.

With the keyhole located above (or, more rarely, below) the warp eye, its position with reference to the upper and lower rails is generally unsymmetricaL'This may lead to occasional jamming, especially along the (usually lower) heddle ends remote from the keyholes which tend to lag behind the central heddle portion during lateral shifting.

The general object of my present invention is, therefore, to provide an improved heddle of the above-described character which avoids this drawback. Y

A related object is to provide a heddle which, owing to its peculiar shape, can be conveniently transferred from the harness rail to adjoining rails of a warp-threading machine positioned alongside the loom.

In accordance with the present invention, I provide such a heddle with a wedge-shaped profile on at least one edge of its extremity opposite the keyhole, thus of its lower extremity if the keyhole lies above the warp eye, the juxtaposition of such profiles on adjoining heddles facilitating the separation of these extremities by a pointed tool. Advantageously, in order to allow the spreading tool to be introduced from either the front or the back of the loom, the wedge profile may be symmetrically duplicated on both the front and rear edges of the heddle. More specifically, these profiles are located very close to an undercut terminal part of the heddle designed for sliding engagement with the associated harness rail.

The invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a face view of a pair of heddles according to the invention, adapted to be mounted side by side in a loom harness;

FIG. 2 is an edge view of one of the heddles of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of several operatively juxtaposed heddles taken on the line III -III of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary face view of one of the heddles and associated parts of the loom harness, drawn to a larger scale.

In FIG. 1 I have shown a pair of heddles 10, lb of identical construction, except that heddle lahas a keyhole 3a with a downwardly pointing slot above a warp eye whereas in beddle llb the slot of the corresponding keyhole 3b points upwardly, i.e. away from its warp eye 2b. The keyholes 3a, 3b are positioned slightly above the median line M with the warp eyes 20, 2b substantially bisected by that line. Since the two heddles are otherwise identical, only the heddle 1a will be described hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 4, in greater detail.

The heddle la is shown to have a relatively wide central portion 13, containing the warp eye 2a and the keyhole 3a, connected via relatively slender intermediate portions 12 and 12' with upper and lower extremities l0 and 10' having the same width as portion 13. The two extremities engage respective upper and lower rails 6 and 6', supported on brackets 5 and 5', which are received in lateral recesses thereof, a reentrant lug 7, 7' of each extremity projecting into a groove 8, 8' of the corresponding rail. The relative elevation of the two rails may be adjustable, e.g. as described in the above-mentioned Kaufmann patent, to establish a proper sliding fit of the terminal portions 10, 10' on these rails. In use, as is well known in the art, the central heddle portion 13 is turned out of its original plane, with twisting of the slender connecting portion 12, 12', to face the oncoming warp threads one of which passes through the e e 2a.

In accordance wr the present invention 1 provide, near the lower terminal portion 10 of the heddle, a pair of wedgeshaped profiles 22, 23 disposed just above the lower rail 6' on a part of this terminal portion which is undercut along an oblique boundary line 19 to form a slight clearance 4' between this part and the rail, the lug 7' ensuring the maintenance of this clearance with any raising or lowering of rail 6. By virtue of the camming formations 22, 23, as diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 3, the use of a triangular point 25 on a spreading tool, not further illustrated, will help separate the lower extremities 10' of adjoining heddles 1a, 1b, lc etc. To prevent binding along the rail 6' while a selector key is rotated in the aligned keyholes 3a, 3b etc. of these heddles. Even in the absence of such key, a tool similar to that shown at 25 may be used to spread the heddles along the rails 6, 6' preparatorily to and/or after their transfer onto a warp-drawing machine having rails of the same profile in alignment with the harness rails 6, 6', the tool moving parallel to the contoured heddle faces visible in FIGS. 1 and 4.

If the keyholes 3a, 3b were disposed beneath the warp eyes 2a, 2b the camming formations 22, 23 should preferably be provided on the upper extremity l0. Naturally, both heddle extremities may be formed with such profiles if desired.

Iclaim:

1. In a loom harness a set of heddles each having a pair of parallel faces with a central portion, an upper extremity and a lower extremity interconnected by elongate'intermediate portions, a warp eye and a keyhole perpendicularly to said faces closely juxtaposed one above the other on said central portion, and a wedge-shaped profile on at least one edge of one of said extremities; said central portion. and said extremities being substantially wider than said intermediate portions in the plane of said faces, said extremities forming enlargements separated from the heddle ends by lateral recesses accommodating respective harness rails, said heddle ends being provided with reentrant formations pointing into said recesses for sliding engagement with said harness rails, said profile being formed on one of said'enlargements; the profiles of adjoining heddles being juxtaposed for engagement by, a camming tool, moving parallel to said faces, to facilitate spreading of ad jacent heddles in a direction perpendicular to said faces.

2. A set of heddles as defined in claim I wherein said one of said enlargements forms an oblique boundary for the corresponding recess defining a clearance with the associated harness rail, said clearance being maintained by the interengagement of the harness rail with said reentrant formation.

3. A set of heddles as defined in claim 2 wherein said one of said enlargements is part of said lower extremity. 

